Quote ="rotherhamrhino"The constant flip flopping that the RFL insist on is another nail in the coffin of our sport. If the format is to change again it needs to be definitive. How many other sports change the way their sport functions every three years, it a complete joke?
The current format works and is interesting. If the league expands to 13 or 14 teams then I don't think a one up one down creates enough interest.'"
It depends on what you class as 'works. Attendances have fallen under this system despite the very reason for its implementation being to raise them. Similarly TV viewership has fallen despite the massive upheaval we went through to introduce this 'made-for-tv' system.
For me this system invented, then solved a problem that didnt really exist and unsurprisingly has had little in the way of success. For instance in the first year 3 of the 4 championship sides who qualified for the middle 8s suffered massive financial problems, last year 2 of the 4 were utterly embarrassed and finished a 7 game league with pts difference of -200+. And what does the middle 8's produce? lower attendances. People found the 8s a turn-off when it is supposed to be an attraction.
Even the million pound game and all the contrived steps we take to get there attracted only 6.5k. Hull KR averaged about 8.1k.
Thats before we even get to the practical considerations which have left League 1 not even a competition, the championship a competition you dont win and could as soon as next year see part-time teams needing to travel to france x2 and Canada in a 7 week period with a week to plan.
